2010 Congress
The 2010 Congress is the current Lovian federal legislature, elected in the 2010 Federal and Mid-term Elections. At the moment, it consists of four Liberal Democrats, three Communists, three Waldeners and six Members of the Congress who are either independent or the only elected member of their party. The 2010 Congress was inaugurated February 1, 2010, by Prime Minister Yuri Medvedev (CPL.nm). Among its greatest achievements are the Third and Fourth Amendments, as well as the 2010 Highway Plan. Course of the Congress Background In November 2009, King Dimitri had returned after he had left the country and abdicated in August 2008. November 9, he was crowned again as King of Lovia and the monarchy was restored. To fill the political vacuum, a provisional Congress was established, compromising Alexandru Latin, August Magnus Donia, Lars Washington, Oos Wes Ilava, Pierlot McCrooke and the monarch himself. When democratic elections were announced and prepared, a number of political parties emerged: the Walden Libertarian Party (November 25)Source: Walden Libertarian Party, November 25., the Liberal Democrats (November 26)Source: Liberal Democrats, November 26., and the Progressive Democrats (December 3)Source: Progressive Democrats, December 3.. Federal Elections , but later on in the elections changed to WLP.]] In the Federal Elections of 2010, twelve MOTCs were elected. Yuri Medvedev, leading the Progressive Democrats, received the highest number of votes. Earlier, the powerful coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Walden Libertarian Party, that had selected Waldener and political newbie Andy McCandless as its joint candidate, had fallen apart when Liberals were divided about Prime Minister candidate McCandless. Then, Alexandru Latin, Andy McCandless and Lars Washington were all in the running to defeat the leading Medvedev. At the end, Medvedev had won with 14.5% of the popular vote. For the second time, Medvedev became the legitimate Prime Minister of Lovia. The Liberal Democrats, Walden Libertarian Party and the Progressive Democrats all got three Members in the Congres. Both LOWIA and the Lovian Communist Party had one member elected to Congress. Voting results In between the elections Achievements kicked off the informal discussing of possible amendments]] In March and April 2010 the Third Amendment and the Fourth Amendment passed the Second Chamber, becoming one of the biggest achievements of the Congress. Also, the 2010 Highway Plan was developed, and unanimously accepted by the Congress. The Five Point Dialogue was a political dialogue held in Lovia near the end of the 2010 Federal Elections between the five government parties. This cross-party dialogue resulted in four Constitutional amendment bills, of which three were accepted by Congress, and which are now known as the Third Amendment. The Five Point Dialogue was originally set up by Prime Minister-elect Yuri Medvedev (PD). The Third Amendment was an amendment to the Lovian Constitution and was proposed in early 2010 by Prime Minister Yuri Medvedev, with the inclusion of two proposals by King Dimitri I of Lovia. The proposals that were accepted by the required majority in the Second Chamber, concerned the lowering of the power of the monarch and Prime Minister, changes in the citizenship registration and several changes in regard to the monarchy. The entire cluster of changes was accepted March 10th, 2010, by Congress. The Fourth Amendment was an amendment to the Lovian Constitution that was proposed in April 2010 by King Dimitri I of Lovia. The Fourth Amendment only amends Constitutional Article 11 that concerns national symbols and the language issue. Most notably, the amendment put an end to a two year long situation of uncertainty about what languages were considered official, national or generally accepted. The Fourth Amendment settled the issue by naming "English" the "national language" in stead of "(American) English", and defining "Lovian English" as "the variety of English spoken and written by the Lovians." The issue that caused most controversy, was the recognition of the Oceana language as a "regional minority language" that must be protected from extinction. The 2010 Highway Plan or McCandless Highway Plan is a plan to reform the Lovian highway system into a more coherent and extended network of highways, proposed by Secretary of Energy, Environment and Transportation Andy McCandless (WLP) in February and March 2010, and accepted by Congress March 24th. The construction of new highways began April 1st. Member changes to reform into the CPL.nm.]] Already two days after the for LOWIA disappointing elections, LOWIA fused with the Liberal Democrats, making the Liberal Democrats the biggest party in the Congress. On the 16th of April, another big change began. Pierlot McCrooke resigned to form his own party, because he disagreed with the policy of the WLP, of which he was member. He was followed by August Magnus Donia on April 18, when the LCP quited because of internal problems. On the same day, the Progressive Democrats reformed into the CPL.nm. Because of this, Arthur Jefferson left the Progressive Democrats, but he didn't resign from the Congress, becoming an independent member of the congress. Mid-term Elections In May, the Mid-term Elections were held, to increase the number of MOTCs, since some resigned quite early in the congress. There were seven candidates and there was quite some campaigning in advance. The elections saw the rise of leftist and progressive candidates, with five progressive candidates and two centrists. Three candidates belong to the major parties in Congress, two were a member of the new LLCP, one ran with the newly founded NLS and another candidate ran as an independent. It was the first recent Lovian election in which two female candidates participated and got elected. Six new Members of the Congress were elected, after Pierlot McCrooke gave up during the elections and lost most of his votes. Martha Van Ghent (WLP) and Percival E. Galahad (LD) won the elections. Ballots were opened May 17 by Prime Minister Yuri Medvedev. On the first day of voting, both Jon Johnson (CPL.nm) and Marcus Villanova (LLCP) did well. The people's view on these men was very favorable at the time, due to their high activity rates and political engagement. May 18, Percival E. Galahad of the Liberal Democrats, with broad support and backing of centrists and classical liberalists, caught up with Villanova. By May 20, voting for Villanova stagnated. The leftist and center-leftist candidates fell in the polls, due to the sudden rise of the liberal and libertarian politicians. Both Van Ghent (WLP) and Galahad (LD) soared. May 21, both Galahad and Johnson led the polls. The next day, WLP's Van Ghent caught up with them. From May 20 to May 24, independent Christina Kay Evans jumped above the Red Line and shared the fourth place with Villanova. Initially, she gained the support of liberals and conservatives, because her viewpoints were unknown and liberals thought her a fit alternative for the numerous leftist candidates in the race. She even garnered votes from the ultra-rightist IGP. Eventually, Evans revealed to be a progressive social democrat. Although she began campaigning at a late stage in the elections, she did rather well for an independent and a new politician. Martha Van Ghent began leading the polls by May 23, Galahad following her closely. Van Ghent would maintain this position until the 27th. She then fell back a bit and shared the first position with the Liberal Galahad. They kept their positions until the end and both won the elections. Until May 24, both Pierlot McCrooke (LLCP) and Ferenc Szóhad (NLS) stayed under the Red Line. Whereas Szóhad began to rise by that time, gathering support from CPL.nm leftists, McCrooke began losing votes. It is generally believed that the voters sanctioned McCrooke for his party illoyalty in the months before the elections. May 25, he resigned as a candidate and immediately fell under the legal voting requirement. Prime Minister Medvedev then announced to move up the Red Line to six candidates - in effect removing the Red Line from the 2010 Mid-terms and allowing all remaining candidates to be elected to Congress. As can be seen in the voting registers, both Johnson (CPL.nm) and Szóhad (NLS) profited from McCrooke's resignation. Member changes Six new members were thus elected in the Mid-terms and joined the congress: Christina Kay Evans, Ferenc Szóhad, Jon Johnson, Marcus Villanova, Martha Van Ghent and Percival E. Galahad. Oos Wes Ilava broke away from the Liberal Democrats, in order to restore his LOWIA party again under the name CCPL. May, June and July The NLS took a step back in the first weeks after elections, but recovered in early July and proposed quite a few bills concerning abortion -one of the things the NLS wants to legalize- alcohol, narcotics, border control, copyright and so on. Szóhad rewrote together with Damian Carter and David York the alcohol law, adding some rules and broadening the law towards matters concerning narcotics. The Red Morning, the leftist journal, wrote the following about the proposals of Szóhad, Carter and York: :July 1, NOBLE CITY - Today, the NLS proposed a new bill in the First Chamber, full of long forgotten issues about alcohol and narcotics, and reopening the debate about the ''capitalist laborers medicine. Szóhad opened with stricter rules about alcohol by rewriting an already existing bill, and eventually added laws for narcotics as well. The First Chamber is discussing the matter right now, and probably in a few days time the bill will pass on to the Second Chamber.'' :The bill fills gaps in the Federal Law, now full of holes - with special credits to the capitalists. Stricter rules for alcohol use are proposed, as well as new rules for the use of narcotics, a subject not discussed before, and a subject lacking proper rules. The law is going to be a success, according to us, as PM Medevedev pointed out in the First Chamber: "I can find myself in this law". :In addition to the new proposals concerning drugs and alcohol, Ferenc Szóhad designed together with David York two other bills, concerning customs and copyright. "We don't want to get nearer to the American way of lawmaking, but we certainly need more and better rules concerning copyright matters", thus pointed out David York in a talk with TRM. "All three bills will pass on to the Second Chamber in a few days", thus said Szóhad, "but first we need to look at it in more detail and add some more rules concerning medical use, since several MPs already complained about the lack of rules about that certain topic in the bill". He continued, responding on fears of the copyleft organisation that Lovia will loose its "free for all" policy: "we are not a banana republic, and certainly not a place for obscure organisations with impossible demands." After the bills concerning abortion and so on were moved to the Second Chamber on the 4th of July, the NLS proposed on the 5th of July together with the CPL.nm an additional bill concerning the nationalizing of the Ecompany, Walkernet, Newhaven Express, Newhaven Connect and the Pacific Railroad Company, in order to stabilize the economy and to pull Lovia towards a more communistic economy. The NLS proposed a sixth amendment in the Constitution as well, but the CPL.nm disagreed and the NLS is reconsidering the amendment. In the meantime the abortion and revised alcohol bill was, together with the other bills, voted for in the Second Chamber. The CCPL, lead by Oos Wes Ilava, strongly disagreed with the bills, and voted against both bills on the 4th of July. August to December The 2010 State Reform was Congress' major congressional achievement in the second half of the year. It was followed by new state elections, which became rather controversial and shifted the nation's political focus away from Congress. The only other major bill was the Act on the Fight against Poverty, proposed by Medvedev. Other achievements were the Seventh Amendment, Marriage Act, Legal Cohabiting Act, Parenthood Act, reform of the Royal Educational Aims Council and creation of the Federal Planning Bureau. A number of changes also occurred in the nation's political parties. The Liberal Democrats ceased to exist, being succeeded by the Liberal Union and the Liberal Arts Party. The NLS merged into CPL.nm, after an extended period of negotiation. Edward Hannis and Alexandru Latin both joined CCPL. Parties Political parties in Congress } | Conservatism; Christian democracy | April 2010 - present (former LOWIA) | Oos Wes Ilava and Alexandru Latin | LD | NLS, CPL.nm |- | | CPL.nm | | Neo-marxism; Communism | April 2010 - present (former PD) | Yuri Medvedev Alyssa C. Red Jon Johnson | NLS | CCPL, IGP |- |100px|center | LU | | Liberalism; democratic centrism | September 2010 - present | Percival E. Galahad Harold Freeman | CCPL | NLS, CPL.nm |- | | NLS | | Communism; radical socialism | May 2010 - present | Ferenc Szóhad | CPL.nm | CCPL, IGP |- | | WLP | | Libertarianism; Enviromentalism | December 2009 - present | Andy McCandless, Edward Hannis, Martha Van Ghent,Marcus Villanova | LD | CCPL, NLS |} WLP The Walden Libertarian Party, abbreviated WLP and often nicknamed the Waldeners, is a Lovian progressive libertarian-environmentalist political party with currently three seats in the 2010 Congress. It was founded by Laurence McKinley in 2009 as the Liberal Party. Andy McCandless became the party's chairman in November 2009 and changed its name. Since then, the party swifted from classical liberalist and capitalist to progressive libertarian and environmentalist. The party is named after the famous book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Its national headquarters can be found on Freedom Avenue 10, Downtown, Noble City. The party has its own community house, being the Walden Home in Long Road, Noble City. The party's slogan is "Simplify, simplify!", after Henry David Thoreau. From February 1st 2010 to March 28, the WLP faction voted in favor of all bills that passed, and opposed all bills that were not passed. 92% of the votes cast by WLP members were in line with the majority of Congress. Party leader McCandless voted along the Congressial majority on all proposals, a record only shared with King Dimitri I of Lovia and Lars Washington (LD). Thus, it could be argued that the Walden Libertarian Party is currently one of the government-side factions in Congress. In August the Labor Party joined the WLP making it the most powerful party in Congress, together with the Liberal Democrats. CCPL The Conservative Christian Party of Lovia, abbreviated CCPL (not to be confused with the CPL) and formerly known as List Oos Wes Ilava or LOWIA, is a minor conservative Lovian political party founded and led by 2010 MOTC Oos Wes Ilava. The party's ideology is moderate christian democrat, conservative and right-wing. The party should not be seen as one which only allows christianity, in fact everybody is welcome to join the party, even muslims and women. It could be compared to the SGP (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij) or the CU (ChristenUnie) in the Netherlands, but the CCPL is more catholic than protestant. It could be considered a testimonial party, as the chances that the christian political points will be accepted by the congress are rather small, because there are no other parties sharing them. NLS New Lovian Socialists, abbreviated NLS or The Socialists, is a Lovian republican leftist party. The NLS focuses on populist socialism. NLS has never participated in elections before. It was founded in February 2010. The NLS participated for the first time in the 2010 Mid-Term Elections. The NLS has as ideology New Lovian Socialism, a more radical stream of American socialism, primarily focusing on turning the state into a republic, and turning the economy in a partly state operated one. Spear points are the introduction of Esperanto as lingua franca, nationalizing ofthe vital parts of the economy, and the confining of the power of the king, not the dismantling of the monarchy, as many people think. The chairman of the NLS is Ferenc Szóhad, who forms together with Abdullah Al Felem, David York and Damian Carter the so-called Big Four. The NLS has one MOTC in the congress, Ferenc Szóhad. Dennis Hordeum and Damian Carter are thinking about MOTC candidacy. CPL.nm The Communist Party of Lovia (neo-marxist), often abbreviated as CPL.nm, is a Lovian neo-marxist political party that was founded in April 2010 as the successor to the long-standing Progressive Democrats. The CPL.nm is the result of a long process of polling among the Progressive Democrats members, of whom 80% chose to make the move to a more leftist approach. Most prominently, the social-liberal Arthur Jefferson resigned from the party when its ideological shift was announced. Later on, Marcus Villanova departed too as he created a center leftist party called the Labor and Liberal Centrist Party. The CPL.nm is to be positioned on the far-left end of the political spectrum and is not to be confused with the former Lovian Communist Party, which dissolved itself only shortly before the CPL.nm came into existence. The "neo-marxist" index is hinted to respect the diversity of the leftist thoughts and the democratic traditions of the party. Having delivered the Prime Minister and two MOTCs, the party is considered to be rather influential in Congress. All party decisions are to be made by democratic voting, though Yuri Medvedev is still considered as one of the leading figures of the party. Other important figures are Alyssa C. Red, Jon Johnson. The Communist Party is one of the leading forces in the Leftist movement. LD The Liberal Democrats (abbreviation: LD) is a Lovian liberal and democratic political party. It was founded in 2009, after a Lovian political revival in November 2009. The political party was considered to be the largest political party of Lovia as it occupied the most seats in Congress, until the LLCP united with the WLP. The party describes itself as being center-rightist, however there is also a relative large progressive member group within the party. One could notice its influence in some of the viewpoints. The Liberal Democrats are also known for being reformers when it comes up to creating more democracy in Lovia. Members At present, there are sixteen Members of the Congress. Ten of them were elected in the 2010 Federal Elections in January. They are referred to as Senior MOTCs. The others, elected in the recent Mid-terms, are known as Junior Members of the Congress. Senior members Junior members Demography Religion More than half (56.25%) of the current Members of the Congress considers himself Atheist, Agnostic or Freethinking. About 18.75% of Congress is Christian: one Roman Catholic member, one Eastern Orthodox Christian and one unaffiliated Christian. One member (6.25%), Marcus Villanova, calls himself a "Freething Jew". About 18.75% of the Members of the Congress do not specify their religious beliefs. Composition changes References and notes See also * Federal Elections, 2010 * Medvedev II Government * Member of the Congress * Mid-term Elections, 2010 Category:2010 Congress